This was the scene in the court next to mine earlier this evening. A house engulfed in flames in a matter of minutes. Thankfully, the two residents who were home at the time got out safely. But guess what was the first thing she mentioned after saying all was lost? Her PICTURES. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when tragedy strikes, what people want most are their pictures, not their clothes, their jewelry, their furniture. Their PICTURES. And sadly, so many of us don’t take the time to BACK UP our photo collections until it’s too late. 

Here are a few steps to take to protect your non-digital photo collection:

1) For the boxes and bags of prints you have from the pre-digital days, possibly scattered all over your house, gather them all in one place.
2) Next, commit the time to sorting through and organizing them.
3) Once organized, put them in an archival storage box that is easily accessible to grab in case of emergency. 
4) Another option with prints is to hire a reputable company like FotoBridge to scan them all to digital so they can be backed up along with the rest. 

For your digital photo collection, it’s common advice now to back up your digital files in at least three places. Two of those should be off site and at least one as far removed from you geographically as possible should disaster strike.

Here are several options for backing up your digital files:

1) Use an external hard drive (EHD) like PictureKeeper, that makes it ridiculously easy to collect ALL the digital images from your computer. Then keep the EHD either in a fire-proof safe, a safe deposit box or even send to a friend to store for you.
2) Use a cloud storage service like Carbonite or This Life which will cover you for remote location storage.
3) Burn your images to archival-quality DVDs like these from MAM-A and, again, put them in a fire-proof safe, a safe deposit box or a friend's house. 

I'm in this business because I care about protecting your family's cherished memories. I don't want to see another family in tears because they've lost everything, including their photos. I implore you to develop a back-up plan for your photo collection in the event of a catastrophe. We never want to think it could happen to us, but there's no harm in planning for the worst. If tragedy were to strike, you’ll be crying about your lost “stuff,” but feeling grateful that your photos are safe off site and can be recovered with ease.

This post has joined the Let's Get Organized Blog Hop over at Dinosaur Superhero Mommy's site.

If you’re like me and have family and friends abroad, or even across the country, a shared site can be a great way to stay connected and keep everyone up-to-date on your family’s story. While family blogs are popular (and I follow a few), I prefer tighter control over the security of my family's personal information. I don’t want any random person in cyberspace having access to photos of my children or knowing every minute detail of our daily lives. And due to ever changing privacy rules, I am also wary of how much I share on Facebook. Not to mention, and I know it’s hard to believe, but I still know quite a few people who refuse to participate on Facebook, including my husband.

So when I became pregnant with my first baby, I knew we had to find a way to share pictures and updates with my husband’s family in Ireland that was secure. I did a lot of research and decided to create a Shutterfly Shared Site. Once created, your site can be password-protected then you can add members, so you stay in control of who has access to your information. The sites have sections for photo albums, journal entries, video postings and a calendar to name a few. Of course, I was much more diligent about journal postings with my first-born, but at least I’ve managed to keep up with photo albums and funny videos of the kids since my second child was born. If you’re looking for a more private way to share family photos and stories, then a Shutterfly Shared Site may be right for you!

Disclaimer: I have received nothing from Shutterfly for this post, I am simply a satisfied customer.